Had to pull the trigger at this price. Thinking this might be an ATL, with previous OzB deal for these at $957 almost a year ago
Sold by HIFIMAN, but shipped/fulfilled by Amazon to abate concerns.
CamelCamelCamel.
A notable 'upgrade' from the Edition XS?
The questions with these headphones are do they need an amp to get the full power, instead of just plugging them into a normal 3.5mm audio jack? You also sacrifice wireless audio and ANC right?
They should be relatively easy to power, impedance is only 32 ohms.
Not sure why you'd want wireless or ANC either. To get the most out of these you, you want to use them wired and in a quiet environment.
I have read comment from Reddit someone find just plugging directly into an audio jack couldn't get enough volume from it.
They should be relatively easy to power, impedance is only 32 ohms.
You can't just look at impedence, especially for planar magnetic headphones. There are other variables that dictate how much power is required to drive a pair of headphones.
94db sensitivity would indicate they need more power than your laptop's headphone jack can provide.
@KarS: Thanks, appreciate your comment. I'm still very new to this expensive hobby so I'll try do some further research based on what you've said.
It is said Edition XS(18ohms, 92db) needs a proper AMP instead of portable one.
I bought it with hifiman EF500.
It is a bit of opposit term. ANC and wireless never comes together with highend HIFi. Those are more for convenience. Those two sacrifice sound quality and that's out of the consumer target.
Honestly probably not, unless you prefer listening to equipment instead of music
My cynical perspective of going down the rabbit hole of audiophile stuff
When you get to good $300-400 headphones, and an amp that can get them loud as you want, there's very little to gain after that.
e.g. I had some ~$600 headphones as my endgame, then I saw the higher tier version second hand for ~$600 ($2000 RRP), so I FOMO'd in
It was relatively easy to compare side by side because my amp/dac has two headphone outputs
Conclusion was the sound was slightly more balanced on the higher tier ones and I was left a bit underwhelmed / regretting my purchase.
People told me that my amp wasn't good enough, so I bought a Topping DX7 Pro. I could not tell difference under blind testing.
People told me I needed lossless. So I purchased my favourite albums in flac. I could not tell difference under blind testing.
People told me I needed XLR cables, so I did. I could not tell difference. (Too difficult to blind test)
Did it improve my enjoyment of music / games? Not at all
What would I have been willing to pay? Maybe 10-20% more if I had heard them both before purchasing, definitely not 300%
Even then, it's more of a different sound than a better one.
And to pick up on those differences, I'm analysing and thinking about every instrument, hence my comment of "listening to equipment"
I don't find any enjoyment in that outside my initial curiosity.
Similar, I've FOMO'd into other headphones like Dan Clark Aeons, HD6xx, Beyerdynamic DT's, etc. and they all sound great in their own way
After using each one for a while, your ears adjust to the slightly different signature anyway
HD6xx not that bassy, but after a week, it sounds perfectly fine that going back to my other bassy headphones sounded overkill.
I've got the Edition XS now and they're my favourite. Zero interest in wasting money on "upgrades" but each to their own
Appreciate the response. I've kinda had a similar experience with my IEMs. I have over 20 pairs and dabbled with cable, eartip and USB DAC rolling and have come to the same conclusion as you. At a certain price point, you're right, diminishing returns hits hard. My higher-end in ears really only sound different to each other, not necessarily better, hence why I put 'upgrade' in quotation marks in my OP.
Only time I find myself using my 'expensive' in ears is because I remember the price I paid for them haha
So true.
Thankfully my ears hate IEM's, so I've just got Huawei Freebuds SE 2 for dirt cheap and stopped thinking about it.
Also have had similar diminishing returns with speakers and keyboards. Almost fell for it with car sim stuff but I like to think I've learnt my lesson.
@abowen: Are we the same person? I'm unfortunately deep down the custom mech keyboard rabbit hole too, but also dipped my feet into VR (Quest 2) and sim racing stuff (Thrustmaster). I'll admit I haven't touched the latter two in a while though :/
@YeemaiI: Nice, what are you looking at in the mech keyboards? I still find them interesting, just that I dont buy them anymore.
A bit there I had a 100+ sample switches to find my perfect one and in a silly amount of pre-order Discord groups.
In end, loved Holy Pandas the most, but then I did a test where I put random clicky/tactile switches on my keyboard. After 15mins, completely didn't realise that they were mixed except for the super stiff ones, or light ones I'd accidentally press.
So for now I've settled on Glove80. It's not perfect but it's good enough that I don't think about other keyboards.
I have Quest 2 (too hard to pass up on sale) and Moza R5. Did a few cockpit upgrades but I'd actually argue it made my overall experience worse. It's heavier and harder to move around now. Hoping to get into iRacing with a mate in future
@abowen: I've had a (mostly) good experience with QK's Neo lineup of keyboards. Currently using a Neo80 with some Gateron Melodics (ultra annoying clickies), but also have a Neo70 with linears. I've personally used various copies of the HPs and loved the tactility too. Currently looking to try out silent switches in a 60% board, but am pacing myself to max 1 keyboard a year hehe
I've had some good fun with the No Hesi servers on AC, but yeh, it's a bit of work to setup.
@YeemaiI: QK's look nice, admittedly haven't seen them before. My friends had often gone the NuPhy path
Tried creams + zilents, and just didn't do it for me, so gave up on the silent path. I wish you luck
1 years a good limit, even better if you sell the previous ones! I have a habit of hoarding…
Haha yes, setting things up on AC is massive PITA. I spent hours just trying to get SRP going. Turns out I had downloaded the files right in the middle of them upgrading to a newer version, so it was all incompatible and I didn't realise. Haven't worked up the motivation to repeat it. I also got stuck in anaylsis paralysis of all those Patreon custom shaders, lighting, etc. Was hoping AC Evo might have a lot of the good stuff out of box but seems its too beta.
I'll keep you updated as I currently use an XS and have ordered this (my XS headband is getting ever increasingly more uncomfortable and its coming up to 3 years old now with the pleather falling apart)
Just got it about 30 mins ago,
Initial impressions vs Edition XS with a straight comparison (i.e., listened to songs with XS —> swapped to Arya Stealth), using a FiiO K5 Pro
I'd say its an upgrade, but 2x the price? depends really. I used the Edition XS for 3 years with minimal issues / headband discomfort (bar HiFiMAN QC issues which they will happily replace under warranty without hassle).
If I wanted the full package without the somewhat ass headband, I'd just get the Arya Stealth. If you think the headband isn't going to be an issue, just get the Edition XS, for $380 that's insane value for what you get.
What other equipment do you have to enjoy the difference in sound quality? Amp? Cables?
Stock cables, amp is the DAC/AMP FiiO K5 Pro, using Tidal but also Spotify on their highest bitrate (Personally cant notice a difference between Tidal and Spotify Very High audio quality).
While I would try different cables, I think its best to have an apples to apples comparison with whatever they provide (I tested the XS with the cables provided for the Arya's as well just to minimise variables).
@NigerianGirthLord: Thanks for your reply. That FiiO K5 Pro is another $300 investment, which I guess is reasonable when you are shelling out $857 for this pair of Arya, but for a pair of XS which can be bought for under $400 now I will have to consider if it is worth spending $700 for both the headphones and the amp.
@edfoo: I got this FiiO K5 Pro also 3 years ago, its been pretty good. You don't need to spend $300 for a DAC/AMP, I remember those years ago there were quite a few options and these headphones aren't high impedance so they don't require a huge amount of juice.
If this is your first time getting stuff like this, I would get the XS, see if you like it or not (if you don't just return it via amazon saying it wasn't as described, they take it back no questions/HiFiMAN have so many QC issues they just accept a return immediately lol).
@NigerianGirthLord: I have read other people buying just the XS and without connecting to an amp, they were disappointed with the sound quality because those audio jacks on PC or laptop cannot deliver enough power to the headphones.
@edfoo: I can’t comment on that but a $150-250 DAC/AMP is certainly a worthwhile purchase if you want decent headphones.
If you’re on the fence, just hop into a local audio store and listen to them in person.
@NigerianGirthLord: I think Minidisc at Chatswood NSW do sell these high end headphones. If I am around that area next time might pop in to try them out.
Hell yeah, now we just need the organic to hit the 1K mark.